Life can be so cruel !

Yesterday evening, Sunday, I went out for a beer about 6:30 In one of the nearby cafes. And on the pavement there were many bouquets of flowers and candles and messages and I knew something bad had happened. I discovered that a young girl, 17, had fallen to her death the night before, during her birthday party.

 When I went out to buy bread this morning I saw that the flowers and candles were still there. Then the local Baker explained to me what happened. The girl, Manon, who had died, had fallen from the 7th floor during her own birthday party, which was being held in her friend’s place. According to the baker there had been six of them, three boys and three girls – teenagers celebrating the birthday. It was on the 6th and 7th floor of a duplex apartment about 50 yards from where I live. Their parents had been there that evening but went to bed about 1:00 am; their bedrooms were on the 6th floor.

The teenagers continued partying on the 7th floor – the highest – and then, decided to climb up onto the flat roof where there would be a wonderful view of all of Paris. We live on the in the Bellevue area which is high up and from where from many places you can see the Eiffel Tower and other monuments.

After a while they decided to come back to the apartment on the 7^th floor and it was then it happened. The roof was flat so that it wasn’t difficult to climb up but to climb down, even though the distance was short, was more difficult. The three boys got down no problem but then Manon seemingly found it difficult to find a footing, maybe panicked a little, maybe got a little vertigo and fell – seven stories onto the concrete pavement.

The saddest thing is that she was the only child, living with her mother who was a single parent. The mother is distraught, her life is destroyed in a sense and it is difficult to imagine how she must feel. Time heals, they say  – but sometimes I would not be sure.

I don’t personally know the mother but I will think of her many times today and her broken heart and her life shattered. Even though Paris is a big city, in many ways it’s a grouping of villages and where I live in the Belleville area there is a strong village sense and a happening like this is deeply felt.

It all happened in a minute, so like I said, life can be terribly cruel.